--- title: "MAGA Figures Turn on Elon Musk for Not Hating Immigrants Enough" description: "We may be seeing some of the first major fissures forming in the dalliance between Donald Trump and his billionaire backer Elon Musk." date: "2024-12-27" modified: "2024-12-27" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/maga-elon-musk-immigrants" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "immigration" - "politics" --- # MAGA Figures Turn on Elon Musk for Not Hating Immigrants Enough ![We may be seeing some of the first major fissures forming in the dalliance between Donald Trump and his billionaire backer Elon Musk.]() *LANDOVER, MARYLAND - DECEMBER 14: (L-R) U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the 125th Army-Navy football game at Northwest Stadium on December 14, 2024 in Landover, Maryland. Trump is attending the game with lawmakers and Cabinet nominees including, Vice President-elect JD Vance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and others. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) \Image: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images\* We may be seeing some of the first major fissures forming in the dalliance between Donald Trump and his billionaire backer Elon Musk. Over the holiday week, Musk entered into a heated online conflict with notable pro-Trump figure and culture warrior Laura Loomer over the president-elect's immigration policy, the [*Washington Post* reports](). The debacle saw Musk receive rare pushback from his far-right supporters for advocating laxer immigration policy to court skilled foreign workers, and culminated with Loomer, who has over 1.4 million followers on X, [claiming that her account was being silenced]() by the platform's billionaire owner for espousing her nationalist views. The infighting could augur a growing rift between the tech figures who have come to support Trump and the extreme right wing of his base. "It's a sign of future conflicts," Samuel Hammond, a senior economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, told *WaPo*. "This is like the pregame." At issue is Trump's decision to name Sriram Krishan, an Indian-born tech entrepreneur, as his senior policy advisor on AI. Loomer is not a fan of Krishan's history of supporting policies that would more easily allow skilled workers to come to the US and stay for longer periods. And though she and her contingent denies it, she's also an unrepentant racist, viciously denigrating Indians as "third world invaders" in a flurry of other descriptors that are too foul and too numerous to repeat here. At any rate, such visas, which provide what's known as H-1B nonimmigrant status, are essential to the tech industry and others that depend on a steady supply of eager-to-work, highly educated professionals from abroad to perform very technical jobs. As nationalists like Loomer took to criticize Krishan's nomination, tech figures, some originally immigrants themselves, [came to his defense](), including Trump advisers David Sacks and Vivek Ramaswamy, championing high-skilled immigration as the lifeblood of America. But most notably among them was Musk, himself an H-1B worker at one point, and who continues to recruit foreign workers to his companies like Tesla and SpaceX. He has [claimed]() that a "permanent shortage" of top engineering talent is the "fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley." "The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low," Musk [wrote on X]() on Christmas day. "Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be." It's not everyday that Musk sounds like the adult in the room — but this logic wasn't enough to bridle the current of vociferous hatred coming from the rightmost corners of the Trump camp. For one, Musk's post received major pushback from followers questioning his dedication to supporting "real" Americans. Meanwhile, Loomer kept railing against Musk — and immigrants. "We have to put our foot down and let them know MAGA is anti-Big Tech," she [wrote](). By Friday, she was claiming that Musk had retaliated by revoking her verified status and removing her paid subscribers. "So much for free speech," she [posted](). Amidst the height of the infighting, right-wing commentator and frequent Musk reply guy Ian Miles Cheong [summed it up]() with a sagacious observation: "It's wild to see MAGA turning against Elon, Vivek, David Sacks." **More on Elon Musk:** *[Touchy Trump Insists That He's Not Taking Orders From Elon Musk]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()